System and method for configuring devices for secure operations

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for establishing a security-related mode of operation for computing devices. A security-related mode of operation is established through security mode configuration data. The security mode configuration data specifies the proper security mode or modes for operation of the computing devices.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and the benefit of commonly assignedU.S. Provisional Application having Ser. No. 60/567,137, filed Apr. 30,2004, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONFIGURING DEVICES FOR SECUREOPERATION,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entiretyfor all purposes.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to the field of communications,and in particular to configuring devices for secure operations.

2. Description of the Related Art

Mobile wireless communications devices are increasingly being usedwithin corporate and governmental organizations. With the increasedusage of mobile devices, companies are faced with the issue of definingand enforcing a secure mode of operation for their deployed devices thatthey consider secure and in accordance with their corporate orgovernment security policy.

For example, when government agencies purchase and deploy a product thathas been validated to FIPS 140-2 (“Security Requirements forCryptographic Modules”) the product is only authorized for use byemployees when it operates in a secure mode of operation referred to asthe FIPS mode of operation. With the many different security settingsthat are potentially configurable, the task of defining and configuringa secure mode of operation on an individual IT policy basis for multipledevices is difficult. Also, once a device is configured into a securemode, the device operator does not have an efficient way to know thatthe device has been so configured.

SUMMARY

In accordance with the teachings disclosed herein, systems and methodsare provided for establishing security-related modes of operation forcomputing devices. As an example of a system and method, a policy datastore contains security mode configuration data related to the computingdevices. Security mode configuration data is used in establishing asecurity-related mode of operation for the computing devices.

As another example, a computing device can be configured to utilize acentralized policy data store to implement a security-related mode ofoperation. The computing device includes a communication interface and asystem processor. The communication interface facilitates communicationbetween a centralized policy data store and the computing device.Processing instructions that operate on the computing device includesecurity instructions that place the computing device in a secure modeof operation responsive to configuration data received from thecentralized policy data store via the communication interface. Thesystem processor instructions can also include user interfaceinstructions for sending a notification to a display associated with thecomputing device. The output can include a visual indication of thesecurity mode of operation.

As will be appreciated, the systems and methods disclosed herein arecapable of different embodiments, and its details are capable ofmodifications in various respects. Accordingly, the drawings anddescription set forth below are to be regarded as illustrative in natureand not restrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an overview of an example communication system in which awireless communication device may be used.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a further example communication systemincluding multiple networks and multiple mobile communication devices.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram depicting a system wherein an IT (informationtechnology) administrator can collect and store IT security policies.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram depicting different security mode instructionsbeing provided to devices.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram depicting the generation of visual indicatorsfor display to users that indicate the devices' secure mode of operationtype.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart depicting an operational scenario wherein asecurity policy is deployed to multiple devices.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram depicting the deployment of a FIPS mode ofoperation.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are block diagrams depicting multiple security modesettings being deployed to the devices.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an example mobile device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an overview of an example communication system in which awireless communication device may be used. One skilled in the art willappreciate that there may be hundreds of different topologies, but thesystem shown in FIG. 1 helps demonstrate the operation of the encodedmessage processing systems and methods described in the presentapplication. There may also be many message senders and recipients. Thesimple system shown in FIG. 1 is for illustrative purposes only, andshows perhaps the most prevalent Internet e-mail environment wheresecurity is not generally used.

FIG. 1 shows an e-mail sender 10, the Internet 20, a message serversystem 40, a wireless gateway 85, wireless infrastructure 90, a wirelessnetwork 105 and a mobile communication device 100.

An e-mail sender system 10 may, for example, be connected to an ISP(Internet Service Provider) on which a user of the system 10 has anaccount, located within a company, possibly connected to a local areanetwork (LAN), and connected to the Internet 20, or connected to theInternet 20 through a large ASP (application service provider) such asAmerica Online (AOL). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that thesystems shown in FIG. 1 may instead be connected to a wide area network(WAN) other than the Internet, although e-mail transfers are commonlyaccomplished through Internet-connected arrangements as shown in FIG. 1.

The message server 40 may be implemented, for example, on a networkcomputer within the firewall of a corporation, a computer within an ISPor ASP system or the like, and acts as the main interface for e-mailexchange over the Internet 20. Although other messaging systems mightnot require a message server system 40, a mobile device 100 configuredfor receiving and possibly sending e-mail will normally be associatedwith an account on a message server. Perhaps the two most common messageservers are Microsoft Exchange™ and Lotus Domino™. These products areoften used in conjunction with Internet mail routers that route anddeliver mail. These intermediate components are not shown in FIG. 1, asthey do not directly play a role in the secure message processingdescribed below. Message servers such as server 40 typically extendbeyond just e-mail sending and receiving; they also include dynamicdatabase storage engines that have predefined database formats for datalike calendars, to-do lists, task lists, e-mail and documentation.

The wireless gateway 85 and infrastructure 90 provide a link between theInternet 20 and wireless network 105. The wireless infrastructure 90determines the most likely network for locating a given user and tracksthe user as they roam between countries or networks. A message is thendelivered to the mobile device 100 via wireless transmission, typicallyat a radio frequency (RF), from a base station in the wireless network105 to the mobile device 100. The particular network 105 may bevirtually any wireless network over which messages may be exchanged witha mobile communication device.

As shown in FIG. 1, a composed e-mail message 15 is sent by the e-mailsender 10, located somewhere on the Internet 20. This message 15 isnormally fully in the clear and uses traditional Simple Mail TransferProtocol (SMTP), RFC822 headers and Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension(MIME) body parts to define the format of the mail message. Thesetechniques are all well known to those skilled in the art. The message15 arrives at the message server 40 and is normally stored in a messagestore. Most known messaging systems support a so-called “pull” messageaccess scheme, wherein the mobile device 100 must request that storedmessages be forwarded by the message server to the mobile device 100.Some systems provide for automatic routing of such messages which areaddressed using a specific e-mail address associated with the mobiledevice 100. In a preferred embodiment described in further detail below,messages addressed to a message server account associated with a hostsystem such as a home computer or office computer which belongs to theuser of a mobile device 100 are redirected from the message server 40 tothe mobile device 100 as they are received.

Regardless of the specific mechanism controlling the forwarding ofmessages to the mobile device 100, the message 15, or possibly atranslated or reformatted version thereof, is sent to the wirelessgateway 85. The wireless infrastructure 90 includes a series ofconnections to wireless network 105. These connections could beIntegrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), Frame Relay or T1connections using the TCP/IP protocol used throughout the Internet. Asused herein, the term “wireless network” is intended to include threedifferent types of networks, those being (1) data-centric wirelessnetworks, (2) voice-centric wireless networks and (3) dual-mode networksthat can support both voice and data communications over the samephysical base stations. Combined dual-mode networks include, but are notlimited to, (1) Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, (2) theGroupe Special Mobile or the Global System for Mobile Communications(GSM) and the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) networks, and (3)future third-generation (3G) networks like Enhanced Data-rates forGlobal Evolution (EDGE) and Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems(UMTS). Some older examples of data-centric network include the Mobitex™Radio Network and the DataTAC™ Radio Network. Examples of oldervoice-centric data networks include Personal Communication Systems (PCS)networks like GSM, and TDMA systems.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a further example communication systemincluding multiple networks and multiple mobile communication devices.The system of FIG. 2 is substantially similar to the FIG. 1 system, butincludes a host system 30, a redirection program 45, a mobile devicecradle 65, a wireless virtual private network (VPN) router 75, anadditional wireless network 110 and multiple mobile communicationdevices 100. As described above in conjunction with FIG. 1, FIG. 2represents an overview of a sample network topology. Although theencoded message processing systems and methods described herein may beapplied to networks having many different topologies, the network ofFIG. 2 is useful in understanding an automatic e-mail redirection systemmentioned briefly above.

The central host system 30 will typically be a corporate office or otherLAN, but may instead be a home office computer or some other privatesystem where mail messages are being exchanged. Within the host system30 is the message server 40, running on some computer within thefirewall of the host system, that acts as the main interface for thehost system to exchange e-mail with the Internet 20. In the system ofFIG. 2, the redirection program 45 enables redirection of data itemsfrom the server 40 to a mobile communication device 100. Although theredirection program 45 is shown to reside on the same machine as themessage server 40 for ease of presentation, there is no requirement thatit must reside on the message server. The redirection program 45 and themessage server 40 are designed to co-operate and interact to allow thepushing of information to mobile devices 100. In this installation, theredirection program 45 takes confidential and non-confidential corporateinformation for a specific user and redirects it out through thecorporate firewall to mobile devices 100. A more detailed description ofthe redirection software 45 may be found in the commonly assigned U.S.Pat. No. 6,219,694 (“the '694 Patent”), entitled “System and Method forPushing Information From A Host System To A Mobile Data CommunicationDevice Having A Shared Electronic Address”, and issued to the assigneeof the instant application on Apr. 17, 2001, which is herebyincorporated into the present application by reference. This pushtechnique may use a wireless friendly encoding, compression andencryption technique to deliver all information to a mobile device, thuseffectively extending the security firewall to include each mobiledevice 100 associated with the host system 30.

As shown in FIG. 2, there may be many alternative paths for gettinginformation to the mobile device 100. One method for loading informationonto the mobile device 100 is through a port designated 50, using adevice cradle 65. This method tends to be useful for bulk informationupdates often performed at initialization of a mobile device 100 withthe host system 30 or a computer 35 within the system 30. The other mainmethod for data exchange is over-the-air using wireless networks todeliver the information. As shown in FIG. 2, this may be accomplishedthrough a wireless VPN router 75 or through a traditional Internetconnection 95 to a wireless gateway 85 and a wireless infrastructure 90,as described above. The concept of a wireless VPN router 75 is new inthe wireless industry and implies that a VPN connection could beestablished directly through a specific wireless network 110 to a mobiledevice 100. The possibility of using a wireless VPN router 75 has onlyrecently been available and could be used when the new Internet Protocol(IP) Version 6 (IPV6) arrives into IP-based wireless networks. This newprotocol will provide enough IP addresses to dedicate an IP address toevery mobile device 100 and thus make it possible to push information toa mobile device 100 at any time. A principal advantage of using thiswireless VPN router 75 is that it could be an off-the-shelf VPNcomponent, thus it would not require a separate wireless gateway 85 andwireless infrastructure 90 to be used. A VPN connection would preferablybe a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/IP or User Datagram Protocol(UDP)/IP connection to deliver the messages directly to the mobiledevice 100. If a wireless VPN 75 is not available then a link 95 to theInternet 20 is the most common connection mechanism available and hasbeen described above.

In the automatic redirection system of FIG. 2, a composed e-mail message15 leaving the e-mail sender 10 arrives at the message server 40 and isredirected by the redirection program 45 to the mobile device 100. Asthis redirection takes place the message 15 is re-enveloped, asindicated at 80, and a possibly proprietary compression and encryptionalgorithm can then be applied to the original message 15. In this way,messages being read on the mobile device 100 are no less secure than ifthey were read on a desktop workstation such as 35 within the firewall.All messages exchanged between the redirection program 45 and the mobiledevice 100 preferably use this message repackaging technique. Anothergoal of this outer envelope is to maintain the addressing information ofthe original message except the sender's and the receiver's address.This allows reply messages to reach the appropriate destination, andalso allows the “from” field to reflect the mobile user's desktopaddress. Using the user's e-mail address from the mobile device 100allows the received message to appear as though the message originatedfrom the user's desktop system 35 rather than the mobile device 100.

With reference back to the port 50 and cradle 65 connectivity to themobile device 100, this connection path offers many advantages forenabling one-time data exchange of large items. For those skilled in theart of personal digital assistants (PDAs) and synchronization, the mostcommon data exchanged over this link is Personal Information Management(PIM) data 55. When exchanged for the first time this data tends to belarge in quantity, bulky in nature and requires a large bandwidth to getloaded onto the mobile device 100 where it can be used on the road. Thisserial link may also be used for other purposes, including setting up aprivate security key 111 such as an S/MIME or PGP specific private key,the Certificate (Cert) of the user and their Certificate RevocationLists (CRLs) 60. The private key is preferably exchanged so that thedesktop 35 and mobile device 100 share one personality and one methodfor accessing all mail. The Cert and CRLs are normally exchanged oversuch a link because they represent a large amount of the data that isrequired by the device for S/MIME, PGP and other public key securitymethods.

FIG. 3 depicts a system wherein an IT (information technology)administrator 200 can collect all applicable IT security policies 202into one convenient location (e.g., policy data store 210). Theplacement of IT policies 202 in one location 210 allows an administrator200 to configure the policies 202 appropriately, and to enable (220) ordisable (230) a secure mode defined therein for the devices 250.

Mode instructions (e.g., commands 220 and 230) may be sent to thedevices 250 over many different types of data communication links, suchas a network 240. Different devices may be connected to the network 240,including mobile devices (e.g., mobile wireless communications device252) and desktop/laptop computers (e.g., desktop computer 254).

As shown in FIG. 4, the devices 250 can be instructed to be in a firstsecure mode of operation, and then later they can be switched to adifferent secure mode of operation. For example, an administrator 200may send a security mode A enable command 220. Later because of a changein IT security policy, the administrator 200 wishes to raise thesecurity level of the mode in which the devices 250 are operating andtherefore sends a security mode B enable command 300 to the devices 250.

FIG. 5 illustrates that the devices 250 can provide some type of anindication to the users of the devices. The indication can be a visualindication 350 which is provided to a user 352. The visual indication350 indicates to the user 352 that the device 252 is operating in aspecific secure mode. For example, it can display in a security optionsscreen that the device 252 is operating in a FIPS mode of operation dueto the security configuration sent by the administrator 200.

FIG. 6 depicts an operational scenario wherein a security policy isdeployed to multiple devices. At step 400, an IT administrator (or itsagent) configures a security policy and deploys it to the devices atstep 402. In this operational scenario, an IT administrator candesignate and deploy a security mode to multiple devices with minimaleffort on the part of the IT administrator. As an illustration, an ITadministrator can click an administrator's interface checkbox todesignate that all (or most) of the devices should be uniformlyoperating at security level three.

At step 404, the devices receive the deployed security mode and processthe mode command. Processing of the command causes the devices tooperate in the defined security mode. At step 406, a user of the devicecan see an indication of which specific security mode the device hasbeen configured by the IT administrator. At step 408, the ITadministrator receives an indication from the devices that the deviceshave received and entered into the designated secure mode of operation.

It should be understood that similar to the other processing flowsdescribed herein, the steps and the order of the steps in the flowchartdescribed herein may be altered, modified and/or augmented and stillachieve the desired outcome.

FIG. 7 depicts a system wherein an IT administrator 200 can define ameta IT policy for a FIPS mode of operation 510. The parameters for theFIPS mode of operation 510 are set in accordance with corporate orgovernment security policies 520 (e.g., FIPS 140-2). The defined FIPSmode of operation 510 limits the use of cryptographic algorithms by thedevices 250 to those that are FIPS-approved (e.g., AES and Triple DES),and when enabled, forces the devices to use only these algorithms.

FIG. 8 illustrates that multiple security mode settings 630 can bedeployed to the devices 250. The policy data store 210 in this examplecontains a list 600 of devices as well as which security modes should beused for the devices. The policy data store 210 can contain one or moredata structures for indicating which devices should utilize whichsecurity schemes. For example, a data structure 610 can be used to storewhich devices should use security mode A settings, and data structure620 can be used to store which devices should use security mode Bsettings. FIG. 9 shows that based upon the information contained in thedata structures 610 and 620, different settings (e.g., security settingsA 700 and security settings B 710) can be deployed to different devicesat the same time or at different times.

The systems and methods disclosed herein are presented only by way ofexample and are not meant to limit the scope of the invention. Othervariations of the systems and methods described above will be apparentto those skilled in the art and as such are considered to be within thescope of the invention. For example, the systems and methods disclosedherein may be used with many different computers and devices, such as awireless mobile communications device shown in FIG. 10. With referenceto FIG. 10, the mobile device 100 is a dual-mode mobile device andincludes a transceiver 811, a microprocessor 838, a display 822,non-volatile memory 824, random access memory (RAM) 826, one or moreauxiliary input/output (I/O) devices 828, a serial port 830, a keyboard832, a speaker 834, a microphone 836, a short-range wirelesscommunications sub-system 840, and other device sub-systems 842.

The transceiver 811 includes a receiver 812, a transmitter 814, antennas816 and 818, one or more local oscillators 813, and a digital signalprocessor (DSP) 820. The antennas 816 and 818 may be antenna elements ofa multiple-element antenna, and are preferably embedded antennas.However, the systems and methods described herein are in no wayrestricted to a particular type of antenna, or even to wirelesscommunication devices.

The mobile device 100 is preferably a two-way communication devicehaving voice and data communication capabilities. Thus, for example, themobile device 100 may communicate over a voice network, such as any ofthe analog or digital cellular networks, and may also communicate over adata network. The voice and data networks are depicted in FIG. 10 by thecommunication tower 819. These voice and data networks may be separatecommunication networks using separate infrastructure, such as basestations, network controllers, etc., or they may be integrated into asingle wireless network.

The transceiver 811 is used to communicate with the network 819, andincludes the receiver 812, the transmitter 814, the one or more localoscillators 813 and the DSP 820. The DSP 820 is used to send and receivesignals to and from the transceivers 816 and 818, and also providescontrol information to the receiver 812 and the transmitter 814. If thevoice and data communications occur at a single frequency, orclosely-spaced sets of frequencies, then a single local oscillator 813may be used in conjunction with the receiver 812 and the transmitter814. Alternatively, if different frequencies are utilized for voicecommunications versus data communications for example, then a pluralityof local oscillators 813 can be used to generate a plurality offrequencies corresponding to the voice and data networks 819.Information, which includes both voice and data information, iscommunicated to and from the transceiver 811 via a link between the DSP820 and the microprocessor 838.

The detailed design of the transceiver 811, such as frequency band,component selection, power level, etc., will be dependent upon thecommunication network 819 in which the mobile device 100 is intended tooperate. For example, a mobile device 100 intended to operate in a NorthAmerican market may include a transceiver 811 designed to operate withany of a variety of voice communication networks, such as the Mobitex orDataTAC mobile data communication networks, AMPS, TDMA, CDMA, PCS, etc.,whereas a mobile device 100 intended for use in Europe may be configuredto operate with the GPRS data communication network and the GSM voicecommunication network. Other types of data and voice networks, bothseparate and integrated, may also be utilized with a mobile device 100.

Depending upon the type of network or networks 819, the accessrequirements for the mobile device 100 may also vary. For example, inthe Mobitex and DataTAC data networks, mobile devices are registered onthe network using a unique identification number associated with eachmobile device. In GPRS data networks, however, network access isassociated with a subscriber or user of a mobile device. A GPRS devicetypically requires a subscriber identity module (“SIM”), which isrequired in order to operate a mobile device on a GPRS network. Local ornon-network communication functions (if any) may be operable, withoutthe SIM device, but a mobile device will be unable to carry out anyfunctions involving communications over the data network 819, other thanany legally required operations, such as ‘911’ emergency calling.

After any required network registration or activation procedures havebeen completed, the mobile device 100 may the send and receivecommunication signals, including both voice and data signals, over thenetworks 819. Signals received by the antenna 816 from the communicationnetwork 819 are routed to the receiver 812, which provides for signalamplification, frequency down conversion, filtering, channel selection,etc., and may also provide analog to digital conversion. Analog todigital conversion of the received signal allows more complexcommunication functions, such as digital demodulation and decoding to beperformed using the DSP 820. In a similar manner, signals to betransmitted to the network 819 are processed, including modulation andencoding, for example, by the DSP 820 and are then provided to thetransmitter 814 for digital to analog conversion, frequency upconversion, filtering, amplification and transmission to thecommunication network 819 via the antenna 818.

In addition to processing the communication signals, the DSP 820 alsoprovides for transceiver control. For example, the gain levels appliedto communication signals in the receiver 812 and the transmitter 814 maybe adaptively controlled through automatic gain control algorithmsimplemented in the DSP 820. Other transceiver control algorithms couldalso be implemented in the DSP 820 in order to provide moresophisticated control of the transceiver 811.

The microprocessor 838 preferably manages and controls the overalloperation of the mobile device 100. Many types of microprocessors ormicrocontrollers could be used here, or, alternatively, a single DSP 820could be used to carry out the functions of the microprocessor 838.Low-level communication functions, including at least data and voicecommunications, are performed through the DSP 820 in the transceiver811. Other, high-level communication applications, such as a voicecommunication application 824A, and a data communication application824B may be stored in the non-volatile memory 824 for execution by themicroprocessor 838. For example, the voice communication module 824A mayprovide a high-level user interface operable to transmit and receivevoice calls between the mobile device 100 and a plurality of other voiceor dual-mode devices via the network 819. Similarly, the datacommunication module 824B may provide a high-level user interfaceoperable for sending and receiving data, such as e-mail messages, files,organizer information, short text messages, etc., between the mobiledevice 100 and a plurality of other data devices via the networks 819.

The microprocessor 838 also interacts with other device subsystems, suchas the display 822, the RAM 826, the auxiliary input/output (I/O)subsystems 828, the serial port 830, the keyboard 832, the speaker 834,the microphone 836, the short-range communications subsystem 840 and anyother device subsystems generally designated as 842.

Some of the subsystems shown in FIG. 10 perform communication-relatedfunctions, whereas other subsystems may provide “resident” or on-devicefunctions. Notably, some subsystems, such as the keyboard 832 and thedisplay 822 may be used for both communication-related functions, suchas entering a text message for transmission over a data communicationnetwork, and device-resident functions such as a calculator or task listor other PDA type functions.

Operating system software used by the microprocessor 838 is preferablystored in a persistent store such as non-volatile memory 824. Thenon-volatile memory 824 may be implemented, for example, as a Flashmemory component, or as battery backed-up RAM. In addition to theoperating system, which controls low-level functions of the mobiledevice 810, the non-volatile memory 824 includes a plurality of softwaremodules 824A-824N that can be executed by the microprocessor 838 (and/orthe DSP 820), including a voice communication module 824A, a datacommunication module 824B, and a plurality of other operational modules824N for carrying out a plurality of other functions. These modules areexecuted by the microprocessor 838 and provide a high-level interfacebetween a user and the mobile device 100. This interface typicallyincludes a graphical component provided through the display 822, and aninput/output component provided through the auxiliary I/O 828, keyboard832, speaker 834, and microphone 836. The operating system, specificdevice applications or modules, or parts thereof, may be temporarilyloaded into a volatile store, such as RAM 826 for faster operation.Moreover, received communication signals may also be temporarily storedto RAM 826, before permanently writing them to a file system located ina persistent store such as the Flash memory 824.

An exemplary application module 824N that may be loaded onto the mobiledevice 100 is a personal information manager (PIM) application providingPDA functionality, such as calendar events, appointments, and taskitems. This module 824N may also interact with the voice communicationmodule 824A for managing phone calls, voice mails, etc., and may alsointeract with the data communication module for managing e-mailcommunications and other data transmissions. Alternatively, all of thefunctionality of the voice communication module 824A and the datacommunication module 824B may be integrated into the PIM module.

The non-volatile memory 824 preferably also provides a file system tofacilitate storage of PIM data items on the device. The PIM applicationpreferably includes the ability to send and receive data items, eitherby itself, or in conjunction with the voice and data communicationmodules 824A, 824B, via the wireless networks 819. The PIM data itemsare preferably seamlessly integrated, synchronized and updated, via thewireless networks 819, with a corresponding set of data items stored orassociated with a host computer system, thereby creating a mirroredsystem for data items associated with a particular user.

Context objects representing at least partially decoded data items, aswell as fully decoded data items, are preferably stored on the mobiledevice 100 in a volatile and non-persistent store such as the RAM 826.Such information may instead be stored in the non-volatile memory 824,for example, when storage intervals are relatively short, such that theinformation is removed from memory soon after it is stored. However,storage of this information in the RAM 826 or another volatile andnon-persistent store is preferred, in order to ensure that theinformation is erased from memory when the mobile device 100 losespower. This prevents an unauthorized party from obtaining any storeddecoded or partially decoded information by removing a memory chip fromthe mobile device 100, for example.

The mobile device 100 may be manually synchronized with a host system byplacing the device 100 in an interface cradle, which couples the serialport 830 of the mobile device 100 to the serial port of a computersystem or device. The serial port 830 may also be used to enable a userto set preferences through an external device or software application,or to download other application modules 824N for installation. Thiswired download path may be used to load an encryption key onto thedevice, which is a more secure method than exchanging encryptioninformation via the wireless network 819. Interfaces for other wireddownload paths may be provided in the mobile device 100, in addition toor instead of the serial port 830. For example, a USB port would providean interface to a similarly equipped personal computer.

Additional application modules 824N may be loaded onto the mobile device100 through the networks 819, through an auxiliary I/O subsystem 828,through the serial port 830, through the short-range communicationssubsystem 840, or through any other suitable subsystem 842, andinstalled by a user in the non-volatile memory 824 or RAM 826. Suchflexibility in application installation increases the functionality ofthe mobile device 100 and may provide enhanced on-device functions,communication-related functions, or both. For example, securecommunication applications may enable electronic commerce functions andother such financial transactions to be performed using the mobiledevice 100.

When the mobile device 100 is operating in a data communication mode, areceived signal, such as a text message or a web page download, isprocessed by the transceiver module 811 and provided to themicroprocessor 838, which preferably further processes the receivedsignal in multiple stages as described above, for eventual output to thedisplay 822, or, alternatively, to an auxiliary I/O device 828. A userof mobile device 100 may also compose data items, such as e-mailmessages, using the keyboard 832, which is preferably a completealphanumeric keyboard laid out in the QWERTY style, although otherstyles of complete alphanumeric keyboards such as the known DVORAK stylemay also be used. User input to the mobile device 100 is furtherenhanced with a plurality of auxiliary I/O devices 828, which mayinclude a thumbwheel input device, a touchpad, a variety of switches, arocker input switch, etc. The composed data items input by the user maythen be transmitted over the communication networks 819 via thetransceiver module 811.

When the mobile device 100 is operating in a voice communication mode,the overall operation of the mobile device is substantially similar tothe data mode, except that received signals are preferably be output tothe speaker 834 and voice signals for transmission are generated by amicrophone 836. Alternative voice or audio I/O subsystems, such as avoice message recording subsystem, may also be implemented on the mobiledevice 100. Although voice or audio signal output is preferablyaccomplished primarily through the speaker 834, the display 822 may alsobe used to provide an indication of the identity of a calling party, theduration of a voice call, or other voice call related information. Forexample, the microprocessor 838, in conjunction with the voicecommunication module and the operating system software, may detect thecaller identification information of an incoming voice call and displayit on the display 822.

A short-range communications subsystem 840 is also included in themobile device 100. The subsystem 840 may include an infrared device andassociated circuits and components, or a short-range RF communicationmodule such as a Bluetooth™ module or an 802.11 module, for example, toprovide for communication with similarly-enabled systems and devices.Those skilled in the art will appreciate that “Bluetooth” and “802.11”refer to sets of specifications, available from the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers, relating to wireless personal areanetworks and wireless local area networks, respectively.

The systems' and methods' data may be stored in one or more data stores.The data stores can be of many different types of storage devices andprogramming constructs, such as RAM, ROM, Flash memory, programming datastructures, programming variables, etc. It is noted that data structuresdescribe formats for use in organizing and storing data in databases,programs, memory, or other computer-readable media for use by a computerprogram.

The systems and methods may be provided on many different types ofcomputer-readable media including computer storage mechanisms (e.g.,CD-ROM, diskette, RAM, flash memory, computer's hard drive, etc.) thatcontain instructions for use in execution by a processor to perform themethods' operations and implement the systems described herein.

The computer components, software modules, functions and data structuresdescribed herein may be connected directly or indirectly to each otherin order to allow the flow of data needed for their operations. It isalso noted that a module or processor includes but is not limited to aunit of code that performs a software operation, and can be implementedfor example as a subroutine unit of code, or as a software function unitof code, or as an object (as in an object-oriented paradigm), or as anapplet, or in a computer script language, or as another type of computercode.

1. A system for establishing a security-related mode of operation forcomputing devices, comprising: a policy data store for storingconfiguration data related to a plurality of computing devices; asecurity mode data structure contained within the policy data store;wherein the security mode data structure stores a security mode ofoperation for at least one of the plurality of computing device; whereinthe security mode data structure stores a security mode of operation;wherein the stored security mode of operation is provided to theplurality of computing devices over a network; wherein the security modeof operation places the plurality of computing devices in apredetermined security mode of operation; wherein at least one of theplurality of computing devices comprises user interface instructionsconfigured to send an output to a display associated with the one of theplurality of computing devices, the output being configured to comprisea visual indication of the security mode of operation to the user of theone of the plurality of computing devices, wherein the security mode ofoperation forces use of one or more cryptographic algorithms; wherein anadministrator interface is configured to update the configuration datastored in the policy data store and for communicating security modes ofoperation to the plurality of computing devices, wherein theadministrator interface provides an indication that the plurality ofcomputing devices have entered into a security mode that is compliantwith the updated configuration data.
 2. The system of claim 1, whereinthe security mode of operation comprises a Federal InformationProcessing Standard (FIPS) mode of operation.
 3. The system of claim 2,wherein the FIPS mode of operation includes forcing use of AdvancedEncryption Standard (AES) or Triple Data Encryption Standard (3DES). 4.The system of claim 1, wherein the security mode data structurecomprises a first security mode data structure and a second securitymode data structure; wherein the first security mode data structureincludes a first security mode being associated with a first pluralityof computing devices; wherein the second security mode data structureincludes a second security mode being associated with a second pluralityof computing devices.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the firstsecurity mode of operation contained in the first data structure iscommunicated to the first plurality of computing devices in order toplace the first plurality of computing devices in the first securitymode; wherein the second security mode of operation contained in thesecond data structure is communicated to the second plurality ofcomputing devices in order to place the second plurality of computingdevices in the second security mode.
 6. The system of claim 1, whereinthe plurality of computing devices are devices from a group thatincludes mobile devices, desktop devices, and combinations thereof.
 7. Acomputing device utilizing a centralized policy data store to implementa security-related mode of operation, the device comprising: acommunication interface configured to facilitate communication betweenthe centralized policy data store and the computing device; and aprocessor communicatively coupled to the communication interface,wherein the processor is configured to execute processing instructions;wherein the processing instructions includes security instructionsconfigured to place the computing device in a security mode of operationresponsive to configuration data received from the centralized policydata store via the communication interface; wherein the computing devicecomprises user interface instructions configured to send an output to adisplay associated with the computing device, the output beingconfigured to comprise a visual indication of the security mode ofoperation to the device's user, wherein the security mode of operationforces use of one or more cryptographic algorithms; wherein anadministrator interface is configured to update the configuration datastored in the policy data store and for communicating security modes ofoperation to the computing device, wherein the administrator interfaceprovides an indication that the computing device has entered into asecurity mode that is compliant with the updated configuration data. 8.The device of claim 7, wherein the visual indication of the securitymode is provided by a security options screen.
 9. The device of claim 8,wherein the security instructions are configured to update the securitymode of operation responsive to a change in the configuration datastored on the centralized policy data store, wherein a visual indicationis provided to the device's user to indicate the updated security modeof operation.
 10. The device of claim 7, wherein the configuration datastored on the centralized policy data store comprises a plurality ofsecurity mode data structures contained within the policy data store.11. The device of claim 10, wherein the plurality of security mode datastructures contains information about which security modes of operationare being used by which mobile devices.
 12. A method for establishing asecurity-related mode of operation for a computing device, comprising:storing a security mode of operation in a policy data store; sending thestored security mode of operation to the computing device over anetwork; wherein the sent security mode of operation places thecomputing device into a predetermined security-related mode ofoperation; wherein the computing device comprises user interfaceinstructions configured to send an output to a display associated withthe computing device, the output being configured to comprise a visualindication of the security mode of operation to the device's user,wherein the security mode of operation forces use of one or morecryptographic algorithms; wherein an administrator interface isconfigured to update the security mode stored in the policy data storeand for communicating security modes of operation to the computingdevice, wherein the administrator interface provides an indication thatthe computing device has entered into a security mode that is compliantwith the updated security mode.
 13. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising the step of receiving an indication that the device hasreceived and entered into the sent security mode of operation.
 14. Themethod of claim 12, wherein the sending of the stored security mode ofoperation forces use of Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) or TripleData Encryption Standard (3DES).
 15. A system for establishing asecurity-related mode of operation for a computing device, comprising:means for receiving a security mode of operation from a server, theserver comprising a security mode data structure comprising securitymode data for a plurality of computing devices; means for entering thesecurity mode of operation received from the server, wherein the meansfor entering includes means for forcing use of AES or 3DES; means fordisplaying the security mode of operation to a user of the computingdevice through a display associated with the computing device, whereinthe security mode of operation forces use of one or more cryptographicalgorithms; wherein an administrator interface is configured to updatethe security mode and for communicating security modes of operation tothe computing device, wherein the administrator interface provides anindication that the computing device has entered into a security modethat is compliant with the updated security mode.
 16. The system ofclaim 5, wherein the providing of the first security mode data structureto the first plurality of devices causes the devices in the firstplurality of devices to be placed in a FIPS mode of operation thatincludes required use of AES encryption; wherein the providing of thesecond security mode data structure to the second plurality of devicescauses the devices in the second plurality of devices to be placed in aFIPS mode of operation that includes required use of Triple DES (3DES)encryption.
 17. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of theplurality of computing devices receives a disable message for disablingthe security mode of operation of the one of the plurality of computingdevices.
 18. A non-transitory computer-readable media programmed withinstructions for commanding one or more data processors to execute amethod for establishing a security-related mode of operation forcomputing devices, comprising: storing a security mode of operation in apolicy data store; sending the stored security mode of operation to thecomputing device over a network; wherein the sent security mode ofoperation places the computing device into a predeterminedsecurity-related mode of operation; wherein the computing devicecomprises user interface instructions configured to send an output to adisplay associated with the computing device, the output beingconfigured to comprise a visual indication of the security mode ofoperation to the device's user, wherein the security mode of operationforces use of one or more cryptographic algorithms; wherein anadministrator interface is configured to update the security mode storedin the policy data store and for communicating security modes ofoperation to the computing device, wherein the administrator interfaceprovides an indication that the computing device has entered into asecurity mode that is compliant with the updated security mode.